GreenClimateCities – local governments respond to Green Cross Task Force’s Appeal for Urgent Action on Climate Change

Rio de Janeiro/Brazil, 18 June 2012 –  The GreenClimateCities Initiative was launched today by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability in response to the Appeal for Urgent Action on Climate Change by a taskforce of experts convened by Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The launch took place alongside the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro.

The GreenClimateCities initiative invites cities worldwide to join efforts by local governments from all parts of the world to take voluntary climate action now and not wait for national governments to eventually come to a global climate agreement.

Under the GreenClimateCities initiative, cities join a network of like-minded cities to advance the transformation of local building stock and urban infrastructure in order to become energy-efficient, low-carbon and resilient and to reap the economic benefits of decisive climate action.

Cities have endorsed the GreenClimateCities Initiative at the recently concluded ICLEI World Congress in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Download the brochure on GreenClimateCities.

Cities will receive guidance and technical support from ICLEI as they set up their greenhouse gas emissions inventory; identify opportunities for rapid emission reductions; develop a climate action plan; identify finance for urban infrastructure projects; and measure progress and report their achievements to the global carbonn Cities Climate Registry. This 3-step approach of analyzation, action and acceleration ensures continuation of best practices and tailors them to the specific urban area.

The World Mayors Council on Climate Change, which convened at the Congress, encourages elected local leaders to join the Council to exchange experiences on local policies that have proven effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time cutting energy bills of private households and the municipality.

The Council also organizes climate advocacy of Mayors aiming to get governments to recognize and cooperate with local governments as partners in the fight against climate change.
Spearheading effective climate action for many years, Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City and Chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, has expressed support for the GreenClimateCities Initiative.

“We urge Mayors to sign up to the Mexico City Pact, a global covenant of cities that has already been joined by over 200 cities worldwide, that have made a commitment to take climate action and to report their emissions and reductions in a transparent way”, said Martha Delgado, Minister of the Environment of Mexico City, one of the world’s mega-cities.

ICLEI Secretary General Konrad Otto-Zimmermann called upon governments to support cities in their countries that wish to join GreenClimateCities so that they can deliver carbon emission reductions as fast as the world needs it. “We invite companies to partner with us because our GreenClimateCities needs the smartest technological and financing solutions that the business sector can offer”, said Mr. Otto-Zimmermann.

GreenClimateCities is based on ICLEI’s 19-year experience with the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign which has guided over one-thousand cities in their voluntary efforts to develop local policies, plans and projects to improve local energy efficiency, promote renewable energy and cut costs.